Effect of propoxycarbozone-sodium and Mesosulfuron-methyl for ...

Eth. J. of Weed Mgt. 1(1),53 – 62 (2007) 

Effect of propoxycarbozone-sodium and 

Mesosulfuron-methyl for Annual Grass Weed 

Control in Wheat 

1 Rezene Fessehaie, 2 Natenael Wassie and 1 Kedija Demsiss 

1 Holetta Agricultural Research Center, P. O. Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

2 Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box 489, Kulumsa, Ethiopia 

Abstract 

Two new grass-weed herbicides: Attribut 70WG (propoxycarbozone-sodium) and Atlantis 30 

WG (mesosulfuron-methyl) were compared to a previously recommended herbicide Puma 

Super 75 FW (fenoxaprop-p-ethyl) for their efficacy under local conditions in controlling 

annual grass weeds in wheat at Holetta, Ginchi, Kulumsa, Assasa and Herero during 2002 - 

2004 crop seasons. Three series of experiments (Initial, Advanced and Verification Tests) 

were conducted to evaluate the candidate herbicides following the directives of the EIAR ’s 

Guidelines for Pesticide Testing. Results of these studies clearly demonstrated the safe 

selectivity of both test herbicides to wheat with associated potential of controlling specific 

target annual grass weed species of the two major agro-ecosystems of wheat production 

areas of the country. However, distinct variations were noted on the tolerance levels of the 

target annual grass weed species to the test treatments. For instance, Attribut exhibited 

significant potential in controlling Bromus pectinatus very effectively and also showed 

satisfactory suppression of Snowdenia polystachya consistently across all testing locations. 

Lolium temulentum was highly susceptible to Atlantis and the effect of both test herbicides 

against Phalaris paradoxa and Setaria pumila was found to be within an acceptable range of 

susceptibility. Major deficiencies observed on Attribut were its poor performance against 

Avena fatua and Lolium temulentum. On the other hand, Avena fatua, Bromus pectinatus and 

Snowdenia polystachya showed moderate to absolute resistance to Atlantis. The two new test 

herbicides can be recommended as alternate options of Puma Super but not for complete 

replacement. Selection of these herbicides for use depends on the merits of their weed 

control spectrum and dominance of the target grass weeds of a given locality where the 

herbicides are chosen for intended use. 

Introduction 

Grass weeds represent major constraints to wheat production in Ethiopia, due to 

both the high proportion of wheat and barley in the rotational systems in the 

highlands, and to the repeated application of herbicides effective against 

broadleaf weeds (Rezene, 1986). Initially, the control of wild oats (Avena spp.) 

was emphasized by CADU, ARDU, and IAR (Tanner and Giref, 1991). During 

the mid and late 1970s, more emphasis was given to the control of Setaria 

pumila, Phalaris paradoxa and, Snowdenia polystachya. The performance of 

fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super) as a selective post-emergence grass herbicide 

has been most promising to date in which the window for application is much 

wider than that for most other post emergence grass herbicides and the product 

is rated as tank miscible with a wide range of broadleaf herbicides. The 

commercial product, Puma Super, has been noted to give good control of most

54 

Rezene et.al 

annual grass weeds, with the exception of Bromus pectinatus and Lolium 

temulentum. The herbicidal chemical sulfosulfurol and ethiozin exhibited 

significant potential to control problematic grass weeds including Brome grass 

in the wheat growing areas of Ethiopia (Shambel et al., 2000). Brome grass is 

one such weed species that recently became prominent in the affected cropping 

systems due to a weed population shift attributd primarily to continuous cereal 

cropping and frequent use of selective herbicides against previously common 

grass weeds such as Avena fatua (Tanner and Giref, 1991; Amanuel et al.1992; 

Rezene and Yohannes, 2003). 

It is therefore, necessary to evaluate several herbicides, including newly 

introduced products for the control of brome grass and other common 

problematic annual grass weeds. Nationally, the Ethiopian Government has 

issued a Special Decree for the registration and control of pesticides in 1990. 

For a pesticide to be registered its efficacy for the control of the intended pests 

should be tested or verified through domestic research by a research 

organization. In order to make pesticide testing more systematic and wellorganized, 

EIAR has developed Guidelines for Pesticide Testing and established 

a permanent Pesticide Research Committee (PRC) for a follow up and proper 

implementation of the Guideline (EARO, 1998). Accordingly, the Weed 

Science Research Projects at Holetta and Kulumsa Research Centers have been 

designated by the PRC to undertake efficacy evaluation of two new grass killer 

herbicides originated from Bayer and Hearts: (Attribut 70 WG 

(propoxycarbozone-sodium) and Atlantis 30 WG (mesosulfuron-methyl) 

respectively. The purpose of this study was therefore, to evaluate the effect of 

the aforementioned candidate herbicides relative to other promising standard 

herbicides on brome grass and other annual weed species in bread wheat. 

Materials and Methods 

The two test herbicides (Atlantis @ 600 g ha -1 and Attribut @ 60 g ha -1 for 

Kulumsa area and @ 70 g ha -1 for Holetta area) were recommended for 

verification test during the 2004/5 cropping season at Holetta, Ginchi, Kulumsa, 

Assasa and Herero. These fields were naturally infested with the commonly 

annual grass weed species (Avena fatua, Bromus pectinatus, Snowdenia 

polystachya, Setaria pumila, Phalaris paradoxa and Lolium temulentum). To 

maintain uniform weed population stand, all experimental plots were artificially 

infested with seeds of the target weed species prior to planting for all sites. The 

treatments comprised two candidate test herbicides with a standard check (a 

previously recommended herbicide) and untreated control. Rates of the test 

samples used were based on the results of the previous year’s Advanced Test. 

Details of the treatments are shown in (Table 1). The bread wheat varieties 

used were Galema, for Holetta, Kubsa for Ginchi Vertisols and Simba for

Annual grass weed control in wheat 55 

Kulumsa, Assasa and Heraro. The seed and fertilizer rates were done as per the 

recommendations for the respective sites. 

The design was RCBD with plot size of 10m x 10m = 100m 2 each testing site 

being considered as a replication. Since none of the test herbicide products 

were compatible to the already registered broadleaf killer herbicides (2,4-D or 

Starane M), all experimental plots were hand weeded to control the non-target 

broadleaf weed species. Herbicides were applied from 36 to 40 days after crop 

emergence with a manually pumped Knapsack sprayer using a single nozzle 

boom out fitted with ICI red polijet nozzle at HARC sites and a sprayer boom 

fitted with 4 T-jet nozzles at KARC sites. Data collected include weed seedling 

count by species, visual assessment score on crop phytotoxocity, individual and 

general weed control score, wheat seedling density m -2 , plant height, wheat 

spike m -2 , weight of seed/panicle, wheat grain and biomass yield, 1000 seed 

weight, grass weed panicle density m -2 at crop maturity and weed biomass 

weight at crop harvest. As per the Guidelines for Pesticide Testing, all 

experimental sites were visited by the designated members of the PRC for field 

evaluation. 

Table 1. Treatment details 

Treat. Trade name and formulation Common name Rate of application prod. 

no. 

(ha-1 ) 

01 Atlantis 30 WG Mesosulfuron-methyl 600 g 

02 Attribut 70 WG propoxycarbozone-sodium 60 * - 70 ** g 

03 Puma Super 75 FW fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 1.0 lt. 

04 Untreated (weedy check) 

* = for KARC sites; ** = for HARC sites. 

Results and Discussion 

Holetta and Ginchi 

Results of the combined analysis of variance for all measured parameters are 

summarized in Table 2. Data on the general and individual visual assessments 

revealed that all target annual grass weed species did not exhibit significant 

population stand difference (P

56 

Rezene et.al 

Table 2. Results of the ANOVA of the treatments effect on all measured parameters (combined analysis of the two 

locations) of Verification Test at Holetta and Ginchi - 2004/05. 

Parameters Significance level Parameters Significance level 

General weed control score Density of weed species m -2 2 nd 

1 st (before treatment application) NS a Snowdenia polystachya P


other hand, Atlantis showed poor performance against Snowdenia polystachya, 

Bromus pectinatus and Avena fatua, but effectively controlled Lolium 

temulentum (Tables 4 and 5). 

No significant difference was observed between all herbicides treatments in 

terms of the total number of escaped grass weed panicle m -2 , but highly 

significant differences were detected for weed biomass weight at crop harvest. 

In this case, the lowest biomass weight was recorded from Puma Super (2157 

kg ha -1 ) with a reduction level of 85% compared to the weedy check biomass 

(14700 kg ha -1 ). Reduction levels by the rest test herbicides (Atlantis and 

Attribut) for the same weed control parameter were only 46.7% and 47.5% 

respectively (Table 5). 

Kulumsa, Assasa and Herero 

No substantial responses were observed on the results of the final Verification 

Test of the two candidate herbicides carried out at these three sites during the 

2004/05 crop season as treatments effect failed to show significant variations 

for most of the measured parameters (Table 6). Considering the fact that the 

Verification Test has been conducted at enough number of locations as per the 

EARO’s Guideline for Pesticide Testing results of the 2003/4 Advanced Test 

from these sites were used to complement the outcomes of the final Verification 

Tests of the central highlands sites in order to draw final conclusions of the 

study under report.

Table 3. Effect of treatments on wheat (Holetta and Ginchi - 2004/05) 

Treat. 

no a 

Crop stand at 

emergence 

(m -2 ) 

Crop 

stand at 

maturity 

(m -2 ) 

Plant 

height 

(cm) 

No. of 

spikes 

(m -2 ) 

No. of 

seeds 

(panicle -1 ) 

Wt. of 

seeds 

(panicle -1 ) 

1000 

seed wt. 

(g) 

Phyto-toxicity 

score b 

Crop 

biomass 

(kg ha -1 ) 

Seed yield 

(kg ha -1 ) 

01 652 482 bc c 92 324 b 39 1.3 60 b 2.3 11567 a 1795 a 

02 689 627 ab 95 493 a 42 1.5 63 ab 2.0 10617 a 1634 a 

03 610 663 a 91 555 a 42 1.7 67 a 2.3 11102 a 1863 a 

04 607 364 c 72 318 b 27 1.5 59 b 3.7 4265 b 583 b 

CV% 15.69 17.17 12.82 24.13 32.11 24.68 5.13 30.94 18.35 16.45 

a = Treatments details are shown in Table 1. 

b = Crop phytotoxicity score: (scale 1.0 – 5.0) where: 1.0 = no effect and 5.0 = plants completely killed. 

c = Means followed by the same letter within a column do not differ significantly according to LSD test (P = 0.05). 

Table 4. Visual assessment score on general and individual control of annual grass weed species. 

Treat. 

no. a 

General weed control score b 

Individual weed control score before treatment 

application b 

Individual weed control score after treatment 

application b 

1st c 2nd 3rd Snowdenia 

polystachya 

Bromus 

pectinatus 

Lolium 

temulentum 

Snowdenia 

polystachya 

Bromus 

pectinatus 

01 4.2 3.6 bd 2.6 b 4.0 4.0 3.5 2.9 b 2.7 b 1.0 c 

02 4.2 3.2 b 2.2 b 3.75 4.0 3.75 2.1 bc 1.2 c 2.7 b 

03 4.5 1.6 c 2.2 b 4.5 4.0 4.0 1.6 c 3.5 b 1.1 c 

04 4.5 5 a 4.6 a 4.75 4.25 4.0 4.7 a 4.7 a 4.0 a 

CV% 6.6 9.24 25.85 11.09 10.26 10.93 19.05 20.54 33.22 

b 

= Weed control score (scale 1-5) where: 1.0 = weeds effectively controlled and 5.0 = no effect on weed control. 

c st nd rd 

Time of data recording: 1 = before treatment application; 2 = 40 days after treatment application and 3 = at crop maturity. 

d 

= Means followed by the same letter within a column do not differ significantly according to LSD test (P = 0.05). 

Lolium 

temulentum


Table 5. Effect of treatments on annual grass weeds. 

Weed density (m-2 ) b 

Treat. 

no. a 

Avena Bromus Snowdenia Phalaris Lolium Setaria Grass weed 

fatua pectinatus polystachya paradoxa temulentum pumila (panicle m-2 Weed biomass 

) (kg ha-1 ) 

01 33 bc 60 b 192 b 67 ab 26 b 17 b 390 b 7835 b 

02 63 ab 19 b 17 c 54 ab 156 a 18 b 374 b 7710 b 

03 4 c 231 a 0 c 26 a 41 b 13 b 375 b 2157 c 

04 101 a 148 a 382 a 117 b 166 a 53 a 879 a 14700 a 

CV% 59.42 46.31 52.67 77.15 62.54 35.84 24.18 30.25 

b 

= Means followed by the same latter within a column do not differ significantly according to LSD test (P = 0.05). 

Table 6. Results of the ANOVA of the treatments effect on all measured parameters (combined analysis of the three 

locations) of Verification Test at Kulumsa, Assasa and Herero - 2004/05. 

Parameters Significance level Parameters 

Individual weed control score 40 DAA a Crop parameters 

Bromus pectinatus NS b Plant height (cm) 

Snowdenia polystachya NS Harvest index 

Phalaris paradoxa NS Grain spike -1 

Lolium temulentum P

The two test products were promoted to this Verification Test under report based 

on their performance in the Advanced Test results carried out by Holetta and 

Kulumsa Agricultural Research Centers during the year 2003/04. Results of these 

studies clearly demonstrated the safe selectivity of both test herbicides to wheat 

with associated potential of controlling specific target annual grass weed species of 

the two major agro-ecosystems of wheat production areas of the country. 

In this regard, distinct variations were noted on the tolerance levels of the target 

annual grass weed species to the test treatments (Table 7). For instance, Attribut 

exhibited significant potential in controlling Bromus pectinatus very effectively 

and also showed satisfactory suppression of Snowdenia polystachya consistently 

across all testing locations. Bromus and Snowdenia are such weed species that 

recently became prominent in the affected cropping systems due to a weed 

population shift attributd primarily to continuous cereal cropping and selective 

pressure of herbicides against common grass weeds such as Avena fatua (Tanner 

and Giref, 1991; Amanuel et al.1992; Rezene and Yohannes, 2003). Lolium 

temulentum was highly susceptible to Atlantis and the effect of both test herbicides 

against Phalaris paradoxa and Setaria pumila was found to be within an 

acceptable range of susceptibility. 

Major deficiencies observed on attribut were its poor performance against Avena 

fatua and Lolium temulentum. On the other hand, Avena fatua, Bromus pectinatus 

and Snowdenia polystachya showed moderate to absolute resistance to Atlantis. 

Since the majority of the intensive cereal growing areas of Ethiopia are infested 

with a mixed population of these annual grass weed species, such phenomenon can 

affect the country wide acceptability of these products as alternative herbicidal 

potential for the management of annual grass weed species in wheat production. 

Furthermore, Atlantis is not compatible with the already registered broadleaf killer 

herbicides (2, 4-D or Starane M) 1 and the Technical Product Information received 

from the Local Agent does not have any information regarding compatibility of 

Attribut with the same widely used broadleaf herbicides. Thus, simultaneous 

chemical control of early flash of broadleaf species during the critical period of 

weed/ crop competition could be difficult with manual weeding due to overlapping 

of farm operations, prevailing moist weather conditions and shortage of labor. 

All of the aforementioned remarks are beyond the scope of this study and cannot 

be considered as decisive criteria for the fulfillment of efficacy data requirement 

for registration purposes. But, it is worth mentioning that local regulatory 

authorities need to check the incorporation of all the above stated precautions in 

the registration labels of the respective herbicide products. 

The two new herbicides can be recommended as alternate to Puma Super but not 

for complete replacement. Selection of these herbicides for use depends on the


merits of their weed control spectrum and dominance of the target grass weeds of a 

given locality where the herbicides are chosen for intended use. As the problematic 

grass weed species do not occur simultaneously or uniformly in a given place, it is 

up to the user to decide the choice of the most appropriate herbicide. In this case, 

Puma Super is best recommended in areas where Bromus pectinatus and Lolium 

temulentum are not dominant weed problems. If the area is severely infested with 

Lolium temulentum the best choice is Atlantis. For areas where Bromus pectinatus 

and Snowdenia polystachya are major weed species it is best to use Attribut. These 

herbicides can also be used on rotational basis over years to prevent buildup of 

resistant weed species. 

References 

Amanuel Gorfu, DG Tanner and Assefa Taa. 1992. On-farm evaluation of pre- and postemergence 

grass herbicides on bread wheat in Arsi Region of Ethiopia. pp. 330-337. 

In: Tanner DG. and Wilfred Mwangi (eds.). Proceedings of the Seventh Regional 

Wheat Workshop for Eastern, Central and South Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 

CIMMYT. 

EARO. 1998. Guidelines for Pesticide Testing. EARO, Addis Ababa. 

Rezene Fessehaie. 1986. Review of weed science research activities in wheat and barley in 

Ethiopia. pp. 121-148. In: Tsedeke Abate (ed.) A review of crop protection research in 

Ethiopia. Proceedings of the first Ethiopian crop protection symposium. February 4 -7, 

1985. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. IAR, Addis Ababa. 

Rezene Fessehaie and L Yohannes. 2003. Control of Snowdenia polystachya in large scale 

wheat production: Herbicide Resistance in Context. pp. 79-88. Proceedings of the 

Agronomy Workshop, 20-21 March 2000, Melkassa, Ethiopia. Bale Agricultural 

Development Enterprise (BADE), Addis Ababa. 

Shambel M, G Kefyalew and DG Tanner. 2000. Evaluation of herbicides for the control of 

brome grass in wheat in southeastern Ethiopia. In: CIMMYT. The Eleventh Regional 

Wheat Workshop for Eastern Central and Southern Africa, Addis Ababa Ethiopia: 

CIMMYT. 

Tanner DG, Giref Sahle. 1991. Weed control research conducted in Ethiopia. pp. 235-276. 

In: Hailu, Gebremariam, DG Tanner and Mengistu Hulluka. (eds.). Wheat Research in 

Ethiopia: A Historic Perspective. Addis Ababa: IAR/CIMMYT.

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